#Historic_meeting_between_Trump_and_Putin
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US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Alaska to discuss a possible ceasefire agreement for Ukraine. Trump welcomes Vladimir Putin with a display of fighter jets
Mr. Trump will meet with Mr. Putin to end the war in Ukraine. During the historic meeting, Mr. Trump said progress had been made, but did not elaborate.
No agreement until there is no agreement': Trump-Putin talks have made no progress in Ukraine.
Trump and Putin hint at progress but offer no details
The first summit between the two presidents after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in2022
Trump greets Putin on the red carpet at the US air base in Alaska
Zelensky, who has not been invited, says Ukraine is 'counting on America'.
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A much-anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no agreement on resolving or stopping Moscow’s war in Ukraine, though both leaders described talks as productive before heading home.
During a brief media appearance after Friday’s nearly three-hour meeting in Alaska, the two leaders said they had made progress on unspecified issues. But they offered no details and asked no questions, with Trump typically garrulous ignoring shouted questions from reporters. We've made some progress." Trump stood in front of a backdrop that read "Pursuing Peace."
“Until there is a contract, there is no contract.
Initially, the talks did not appear to have produced meaningful steps towards a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest conflict in 80 years, a goal Trump had set ahead of the summit.
But the mere face-to-face meeting with the US president was a victory for Putin, who had been ostracized by Western leaders since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Following the summit, Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity that he would stop imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil after making progress with Putin. He did not mention India, another major buyer of Russian crude, which has been hit with a total of 50% tariffs on US imports that include a 25% penalty for imports from Russia.
"Because of what happened today, I don't think I need to think about it now," Trump said of China's tariffs: "Maybe I'll think about it in two or three weeks or something, but we don't have to think about it right now."
Trump has also threatened sanctions against Moscow but has not followed through, even after Putin ignored a Trump-imposed ceasefire deadline earlier this month.
In the Fox News interview, Trump also suggested that a meeting now be set up between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he might also attend. He gave no further details on who would organize the meeting or when it might be.
Putin made no mention of meeting Zelensky earlier in the day. He said he expected Ukraine and its European allies to constructively accept the results of the U.S.-Russia talks and not seek to "undermine emerging progress."
He also reiterated Moscow's long-standing position that what Russia claims will be the "fundamental cause" of the conflict to reach a lasting peace, a sign that it will remain resistant to a ceasefire.
There was no immediate reaction from Kiev to the summit, the first meeting between Putin and a US president since the war began.
'GOTTA MAKE A DEAL'
Noting that he had discussed land swaps and possible security guarantees for Ukraine with Putin, Trump told Hannity: “I think those are points that we negotiated and those are points that we largely agreed on.
"I think we are very close to a deal," he said, adding that Ukraine would have to agree to the deal. "They might say no."
When Hannity asked what advice he had for Zelensky, Trump said, "You've got to make a deal."
1/9]President Donald Trump speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, Aug. 15
"Look, Russia is a very big power, and they're not," Trump added. According to analysts, the fighting has killed or wounded more than a million people on both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians.
Zelensky has refused to formally cede any territory to Moscow and is also seeking U.S.-backed security guarantees. Trump said he would call Zelensky and NATO leaders to brief them on the Alaska talks.
Trump was scheduled to return to Washington early Saturday.
As the two leaders spoke, the fighting continued and much of eastern Ukraine was under an air raid alert. The governors of Russia’s Rostov and Bryansk regions reported that parts of their territories were under attack by Ukrainian drones.
Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 29 Ukrainian drones over various parts of Russia overnight, including 10 shot down over the Rostov region, RIA reported on Saturday, citing the Defense Ministry.
The Ukrainian Air Force said the front line areas of Sumy, Donetsk, Chernyhiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions were targeted by Russia in night attacks. Ukrainian air defense units destroyed 61 of the 85 drones launched, it said.
The closely watched anti-climax end of the summit was a stark contrast to the pomp and circumstance with which it began. A red carpet awaited Putin when he arrived at an air force base in Alaska, where Trump warmly greeted the Russian leader as U.S. military jets flew overhead.
Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court and charged with war crimes by deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia denies the allegations and the Kremlin has called the ICC order null and void. Russia and the United States are not members of the Court.
'Next time in Moscow'
Zelensky, who was uninvited to Alaska, and his European allies feared that Trump would sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognizing — if only informally — Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine.
Trump had sought to allay such concerns ahead of the talks on Friday, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any potential territorial concessions.
Asked what would make the meeting successful, he told reporters: “I want to see a ceasefire as soon as possible… I will not be happy if it is not today… I want the killing to stop.
Also present at the meeting were US Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Trump’s special representative to Russia, Steve Witkoff; Russian Foreign Policy Assistant Yuri Ushakov; and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Trump, who said during the presidential campaign that he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, acknowledged on Thursday that it had proven to be a more difficult task than he expected. He had said that if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, trilateral summit with Zelensky would be more important than a confrontation with Putin.
"Thank you very much. We will talk to you very soon and we will probably see you again very soon," Trump concluded Friday.
“Next time in Moscow,” a grinning Putin replied in English. Trump said he might have "a little bit of heat on that one" but he could "probably see it happening."
Zelensky said ahead of Friday’s summit that the meeting should pave the way for a “just peace” and tripartite talks that include him, but added that Russia continues to fight.
"It's time to end the war and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on the United States," Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Reporting by Steve Holland, Andrew Osborne and Daria Korsunskaya; Additional reporting by Trevor Honeycott, Jeff Mason, Lydia Kelly, Jasper Ward, Kostas Pitas, Ismail Shakeel and Bhargav Acharya; Written by Joseph Ax and James Oliphant Edited by Rod Nickel, Alistair Bell and Raju Gopalakrishnan
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